Wellbores are sometimes drilled into subterranean formations that contain hydrocarbons to allow recovery of the hydrocarbons. The formation materials encountered while drilling into a subterranean formation can vary widely depending on the location and depth of the desired reservoir. In order to properly characterize the materials in a wellbore, one or more samples may be taken and tested to determine a variety of properties of the materials. Specific samples may be taken in various forms including cuttings from the formation in the returned drilling fluids during drilling and/or special samples cut for testing that are commonly referred to as core samples.
Core samples may be cut using core cutters to produce the core sample in a variety of diameters and lengths. The resulting core samples may then be tested in a testing apparatus to determine one or more physical properties of the sample such as the permeability, porosity, fluid flow and/or fluid and/or gas saturations in the sample. Special testing apparatuses may be used and specific methods may be carried out to determine the various properties of the samples.